In February, three years ago, when a Nigerian mother of 31 went into labor she had no idea what she was about to experience.
She can now easily tell her identical twin sons apart. Even though they were only minutes apart at birth, Daniel and David look nothing similar.
Both of the children of Stacy and Babajide, who are black and live in Lagos, are albinos.
Because of their strikingly different appearances, the cute twins often draw attention wherever they go.
Daniel looks like his 5-year-old big sister Demilade and has dark skin and black curly hair, while David is shockingly white with pale skin and golden locks.
Stacy decided to document the odd couple’s antics on Instagram, and now, after only a year, the twins had nearly 18,000 followers.
Birth of the twins on February 26 of last year came as a complete shock to everyone.
“We did not know about their differences while I was pregnant, the scan did not show such so it was a huge surprise and the most amazing moment when the first twin (Daniel) came out with black hair and the second twin (David) came out with gold hair. I had them through CS, so the doctors were like: “It seems you are having totally unidentical twins.” Before I knew it, nurses started coming out to look at them,” mum of three, Stacy, told Bored Panda.
One of the twins was black and the other was white, so it was impossible to tell them apart.
Stacy’s husband’s response to this turn of events is touching, and she shared it with us.
“Their dad was really overwhelmed and immediately named My Twin 2 (David) ‘Golden,’ so he fondly calls him Mr. Golden. He was all overjoyed seeing his boys. He stood for more than 10 minutes staring at them and said he was just looking at God’s wonderful work and that they are his best gift ever.”
David’s albinism puts him in an extremely rare category; just 1 in 20,000 babies are born with this affliction.
Due to a lack of melanin, the pigment produced in the skin, hair, and eyes, albinism is a hereditary disorder that affects appearance.
All races and ethnicities are affected, and the degree of pigmentation varies with the type.
Albinism is a rare disorder, with a birth probability of between 3,000 and 20,000. Albinos need to be very careful because it can cause a variety of skin and visual issues.
David has oculocutaneous albinism, which explains his beautiful golden curls and unusually pale complexion. Fortunately, according to Stacy, David doesn’t have any health problems.
There are more than two million confirmed or suspected albinos in Nigeria, making it one of the countries with the highest prevalence of the disorder in the world.
The numbers don’t lie, though; this community still experiences significant bias due to its members’ skin tone.
Over 600,000 albino Nigerians are subjected to prejudice and bullying from their peers, families, and communities, which often leads to economic hardship and educational failure.
Stacy did say that nobody has ever said anything bad to her about her two sons and that they are both loved equally and unconditionally.
“There’re always side talks whenever we go out, people often wanna know how and what’s happening and maybe due to their cute and adorable nature, you just wanna come close to say hello.”
Because of the twins’ unusual appearance, their family has been getting modeling offers from agencies in the United Kingdom.
The family has made an Instagram account to share their delight and bring attention to important issues, and they are eager to take advantage of any possibilities that may arise.
In order to raise awareness, Stacy and I decided to make an account for them since we think they have a narrative to tell.
“They have two different amazing personalities, they are a year+ now, walking and very playful,” said Stacy
“Daniel is more expressive while David is an observer. Both of them are highly inquisitive. Daniel is a foodie while David is quite picky; Daniel is extremely playful while David chooses moments; Daniel always likes to play the bigger brother role; they are both energetic.”
Two very special boys are now 3 years old.